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The Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to close four Catholic high schools and 44 elementary schools will be closed or partnered with other schools, officials told school administrators and priests at a close-door meeting at Neumann University this morning.

On December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Archbishop Charles Chaput, the newly-installed archbishop of Philadelphia, released a pastoral letter to the faithful of his archdiocese. It will be read this weekend at Masses, even as Archbishop Chaput is returning home from his ad limina visit to Rome. A copy of the letter was obtained by Whispers in the Loggia and has now been published online.Pastoral letters from bishops can range from being “ho-hum” letters to being “Wham!” letters. Archbishop Chaput’s is definitely at the “Wham!” end of the spectrum.Let’s read it together.The letter begins with the kind of gentle,...

In getting ready for tonight, Charles Gray asked me to keep two things in mind.  First, he asked me to remember that we have a mixed audience here in Houston Hall, both Catholic and non-Catholic.  Second, he asked me to explain what Catholics mean when we talk about the “sanctity” of human life, and why the Church deals with issues like abortion so vigorously in the public square.  As it turns out, most of my sources tonight are not Catholic.  That shouldn’t be surprising.  Catholics have no monopoly on respect for human dignity.  Catholics do have a very long tradition...

Today, Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are celebrating the installation of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. The question thus arises why Nicholas P. Cafardi, Dean Emeritus of the Duquesne Law School, would publish an op-ed in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer both maligning and accusing Archbishop Chaput of propagating a “one-issue” Catholic Church. That issue, of course, is abortion, a practice that Archbishop Chaput has consistently reminded all Catholics, including Catholic politicians, should be opposed rather than supported. To imply that Archbishop Chaput does not care about the “broad spectrum of values,” such as caring for the poor and immigrants, is...

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput delivers his homily at Philadelphia's Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul. Credit EWTN Philadelphia, Pa., Sep 8, 2011 / 02:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput promised to lay down his life to restore faith and trust among Catholics in Philadelphia, during his Sept. 8 installation at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.“Whatever my weaknesses and whatever my lacks, no bishop will give more of himself than I will to renewing this great Church,” the new archbishop promised in his installation homily. “Everything I’ve learned, everything I know, and everything I have,...

Charles Chaput is being installed today as the head of the Philadelphia diocese.

Christians (and presumably non-Christians, too!) “make a very serious mistake� if they turn to news outlets like The New York Times, Newsweek, CNN and MSNBC for “reliable news about religion,� the incoming bishop of Philadelphia told a crowd of young people in Spain last week. LifeSiteNews reports: “Being uninformed about the world and its problems and issues is a sin against our vocation as disciple[s],” Archbishop Charles Chaput told his audience during a special World Youth Day session in Madrid. And yet, he went on to note, the Christian believer is faced with a unique challenge in finding accurate sources...

The news outlets CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and Newsweek have come under fire by Philadelphia’s incoming Archbishop, for a lack of “trustworthiness” where matters of religious faith are concerned. According to Archbishop Charles Chaput, the media do not “provide trustworthy information about religious faith. ” His comments were made Wednesday during an address on religious freedom before some 10,000 pilgrims at the Catholic World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain. Archbishop Chaput told the group of young faith-goers, “in the United States, our battles over abortion, family life, same-sex ‘marriage,’ and other sensitive issues have led to ferocious public...

MADRID, SPAIN, August 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When it comes to finding information on vital issues like abortion, same-sex “marriage,” and faith, the mainstream media simply can’t be trusted, the incoming archbishop of Philadelphia told a group of youth in Spain last week. “Being uninformed about the world and its problems and issues is a sin against our vocation as disciple,” Archbishop Charles Chaput told his audience during a special World Youth Day session in Madrid. And yet, he went on to note, the Christian believer is faced with a unique challenge in finding accurate sources of information on key...

I want to start by sharing a story. Once upon a time, a student at one of the world’s oldest universities took a break from her studies to visit the Catholic chapel on campus. As she sat there in silence—praying for a sick relative or trying to settle her nerves before a test—the chapel suddenly filled with noise. A mob of about seventy fellow students charged in chanting anti-Christian slogans. They shouted obscenities against the Church and insults about the Pope. Two females in the mob climbed on top of the altar. Then, according to the student who was trying...

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput speaks at a WYD catechesis session in Madrid Madrid, Spain, Aug 18, 2011 / 12:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop-designate of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput told thousands of young people gathered in Madrid for World Youth Day that an authentic relationship with Christ isn't based purely on emotions. “Ultimately, it will not be how you feel that will determine how genuine and profound your encounter with Jesus is,” he told pilgrims. “Instead, it will be determined by how much you are transformed into Him and how much you burn in the desire to bring Him to...

From Italian journalist Marco Tosati on the Vatican Insider of the Italian daily La Stampa comes this. Raymond Leo Burke, the “great puppeteer” of American appointeesThe appointment of Chaput to the Diocese of Philadelphia confirms Burke’s role as the Pope’s trusted man in the US marco tosatti romeThe nomination of Charles Chaput, Native American bishop from Denver, to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia confirms Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, as Benedict XVI’s top advisor in the United States. One of the first signs of his role as a bridge between the influential United States...

Denver, Colo., Jul 21, 2011 / 12:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Charles Chaput said on July 20 that he was “very grateful” for his time in Denver, and that it would be “very difficult” for him to leave the city for his new post in Philadelphia. “I have a great love for the people of the Archdiocese of Denver,” Chaput said at Wednesday's press conference, one day after his new appointment was announced. “It's going to be hard—very, very hard for me to leave.”Two weeks before the public announcement, Chaput received notification that Pope Benedict XVI was appointing him the...

Freshly "snipped" from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at 6:00am this morning Savannah, Georgia wakes up to the news that Franciscan, Rev. Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM will become it's next bishop, and the people of Philadelphia got confirmation that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver will succeed the outgoing Cardinal Justin Rigali. Archbishop Chaput had been rumored more than once to be headed to a cardinalatial see from his Denver post which he has held since 1997, and it finally happened this morning with his appointment today to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by Pope Benedict XVI.  He will be installed on September 8,...

Not Sha-PUTT, not Sha-POOT. (N.B.: The Philly Inky has it listed as “Sha PEW� in their story…which I guess to them seems more churchy and less naughty.)Second thing: as of tomorrow, you will be hearing his name a lot.And here’s why: Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, widely perceived both as a leader of the church’s conservative wing and a tough administrator with a strong work ethic, has been named by Pope Benedict XVI as the new archbishop of Philadelphia.Sources confirmed the appointment to NCR, which is scheduled to be announced by the Vatican tomorrow. Chaput replaces Cardinal Justin Rigali, 76,...

Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput Denver, Colo., Jul 19, 2011 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict appointed Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver on July 19 to lead the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.Cardinal Justin Rigali, who reached the age of retirement in April 2010, will serve as apostolic administrator until Archbishop Chaput's installation on Sept. 8. Cardinal Rigali has headed the Philadelphia archdiocese since 2003.The Pope's appointment comes as the archdiocese struggles to deal effectively with clerical sex abuse allegations. In March, Cardinal Rigali placed 21 priests on administrative leave following a grand jury report claiming...

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2011 / 05:22 pm (CNA).- A Vatican source has confirmed that on July 19 Pope Benedict XVI will appoint Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver as the shepherd of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.Several news outlets began to report on July 18 that Archbishop Chaput will lead the Philadelphia archdiocese beginning this coming September. Archbishop Chaput’s appointment was confirmed to CNA late on Monday by a Vatican source who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.On June 30, the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops picked the name of a potential Philadelphia archbishop from a list...

Chaput: Bishops Must Speak United on Politicians, Abortion Washington, DC -- When Catholic politicians push for abortion without impunity, Catholic faithful are often left wondering why Church leaders don't do more to bring up their actions as out of step with Catholic teachings. One leading bishop is explaining why. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/15/chaput-bishops-must-speak-united-on-politicians-abortion/

... I have chosen to address the theme of “politics and the devil,” not because I plan to suggest that anyone in our national political life has made a pact with Lucifer—although, given the current environment, you never know; it’s not the sort of thing you’d put in a press release—but because it is the title of an essay by the late University of Chicago philosopher Leszek Kolakowski. Kolakowski was a former Marxist, a very gifted scholar, and a skeptic about many things—but not about the reality of evil or the nature of the devil. One of the disturbing things...

October 25, 2010 Thoughts on a New Knighthood Archbishop Chaput delivered the following remarks to Catholic cadets at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Monday, Oct. 25, 2010.None of you wants to sit through another classroom lecture. So my comments will be brief. Then we can get to some questions and answers. I'm also going to skip telling you how talented you are. You already know that. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. What you'll discover as you get older is that the world has plenty of very talented failures – people who either didn't live up to their abilities; or who did,...

Young people and Archbishop Charles Chaput Addressing a conference in British Columbia, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver asserted that Catholics today have failed to transmit the faith to the next generation, which has resulted in young people losing their “moral vocabulary.” The Denver prelate made his remarks on Oct. 15 at the “Faith in the Public Square” seminar sponsored by the Diocese of Victoria. He opened his speech with a reference to Shirley Jackson’s famed short story “The Lottery.”Jackson’s story – set in rural 1940s America – features the tale of a small town that gathers every year to...

Wednesday August 25, 2010 Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable" SPISSKE, PODHRADIE, Slovakia, August 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - MUST READ Excerpts from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput's address to the 15th symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia on Tuesday:Today's secularizers have learned from the past.  They are more adroit in their bigotry; more elegant in their public relations; more intelligent in their work to exclude the Church and individual believers from influencing the moral life of society. Over the next several decades, Christianity will become a faith that can speak in the public square less...

Archbishop Charles Chaput. Denver, Colo., Jul 16, 2010 / 07:21 pm (CNA).- Scripture is “the one story that really matters” because it is the story of God’s “new creation,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has said in a lecture on Friday morning. Calling on Christians to live their lives “in Christ,” he said Catholics should allow God’s “new creation” to take root in themselves.Speaking on Friday at the Catholic Bible Conference at St. Thomas More Parish in the Denver suburb of Littleton, the Archbishop of Denver said the story of Scripture is “the greatest story ever told – a story...

In the organizational structure of the Catholic Church in America, the Province of Denver includes the dioceses of Pueblo and Colorado Springs in Colorado, the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming, and the province’s metropolitan (or senior) see, the Archdiocese of Denver. That makes Denver’s bishop an archbishop. As that archbishop, I rarely see a year go by without at least two or three unhappy parishioners assuming I have the authority to “straighten out” their liturgists and principals and pastors or some other problem in their local parish—within the province but outside my own diocese. They tend to get even more...

On the Church’s Birthday, Let’s Pray for Our Priests May 22nd, 2010 by Archbishop Charles Chaput Ten years ago, as St. John Vianney Theological Seminary opened its doors for the first time, I wrote the following words to the people of our local Church:“The Church is not just a collection of individuals convened around a sacred text. She is a community — a community rooted both in God’s Word and in sacrament. No matter how many other things bear good fruit for the Gospel in our day, there is no on-going presence of Jesus Christ in the world without the...

(CNA/EWTN News).- Arizona’s new immigration law has some flaws but shows the brokenness of the immigration system, Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput has said. Urging Congress to act, he noted the dangers and wrongs of both illegal immigration and the response to it. Writing in the May 5 edition of the Denver Catholic Register, the archbishop said Americans have a right to safety and to have solvent public institutions, but that cannot come at the cost of immigrants’ basic human rights. Discussing the controversy about the Arizona state law, he advised Catholics to listen first to the leaders of...

The Secretary of State of Colorado has announced that Amendment 62 will be on the ballot. Over 80,000 signatures have been obtained. This Amendment Ban's Abortion in the state of Colorado. This is interesting, as Archbishop Chaput, in Denver, can make this a National Issue. We need to start prayers for this now. Links to articles about this: FreeRepublic: Official - Personhood Amendment 62 Is On the 2010 Colorado Ballot! -- Ban on Abortion Initiative on ballot in Colorado this year!!! Also New York Times, FoxNews, and AP articles on this. Again, please pray -- offer Masses, rosaries, Eucharistic Adoration,...

Thursday March 25, 2010 Chaput Rebukes CHA & “Catholic” Groups for Pro-Abort ObamaCare Triumph By Peter J. SmithDENVER, Colorado, March 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput took aim at the Catholic Health Association (CHA) and other “Catholic” groups that he said are ostensibly committed to social justice – so long as the rights of unborn are excluded – for damaging the pro-life coalition that was struggling to hold together before this past Sunday’s momentous vote on President Obama’s health care reform.“How did we get here?” Chaput asked in a column for the Denver Catholic Register. He said that...

As current federal health-care legislation moves forward toward law, we need to draw several lessons from events of the last weeks and months: First, the bill passed by the House on March 21 is a failure of decent lawmaking. It has not been “fixed.” It remains unethical and defective on all of the issues pressed by the U.S. bishops and prolife groups for the past seven months. Second, the Executive Order promised by the White House to ban the use of federal funds for abortion does not solve the many problems with the bill, which is why the bishops did...

In a piece to be released later this morning, Catholic archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver comes out swinging against the health-care push in Washington this week. He writes, in part: "Groups, trade associations and publications describing themselves as “Catholic” or “prolife” that endorse the Senate version — whatever their intentions — are doing a serious disservice to the nation and to the Church, undermining the witness of the Catholic community; and ensuring the failure of genuine, ethical health-care reform. By their public actions, they create confusion at exactly the moment Catholics need to think clearly about the remaining issues...

TEACHING MOMENT. Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, speaking above at the archdiocese’s John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization, explained his decision to bar from archdiocesan schools students whose parents are living in ‘open discord’ with Church teaching. WASHINGTON — After administrators of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School in Boulder, Colo., discovered that a preschooler’s parents were lesbians, they declared that the child would not be able to continue in the school. The lesbian couple was informed that their child would only be permitted to complete kindergarten, but not advance to first grade at the school. Both the Archdiocese...

Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Boulder, Colo. Denver, Colo., Mar 8, 2010 / 09:34 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver weighed-in today on the recent decision to not re-enroll the child of a lesbian couple in a local Catholic school. The archbishop explained, “If parents don’t respect the beliefs of the Church, or live in a manner that openly rejects those beliefs, then partnering with those parents becomes very difficult, if not impossible.”Staff members at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Boulder, Colorado were told early last week that that an attending preschooler, whose two parents...

In 1960, he theorized the most rigid separation between Church and state, in order to be acceptable as president. Half a century later, Archbishop Chaput is accusing him of causing serious damage. An essay by Professor Diotallevi on the limits and shortcomings of secularism. ROME, March 2, 2010 – Precisely fifty years after the memorable speech, preserved in the anthologies, that John F. Kennedy gave to the Protestant pastors of Houston in order to convince them and the entire nation that as a Catholic he could be a good president (see photo), the archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, has...

Archbishop Chaput Rome, Italy, Jan 28, 2010 / 11:41 am (CNA).- On Wednesday, the Emmanuel Community's annual symposium in Rome was addressed by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, who spoke on the task of evangelizing the modern culture and what he called religious leaders' embarrassment to discuss the existence of Satan.The American archbishop spoke for half an hour at the Pontifical Lateran University to an audience ranging from college students to people in their 70s. His speech, entitled, “The Prince of this World and the Evangelization of Culture,” was part of a symposium that lasted from Jan. 25-27 and...

Denver, Colo., Dec 7, 2009 / 03:11 am (CNA).- In an exclusive interview with Catholic News Agency, Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput has explained his reasons for signing the Manhattan Declaration. He said the Declaration should “galvanize” Christians and others in defense of pro-life issues, the nature of marriage and religious freedom. “I was glad to be invited to sign the declaration, and glad to sign because I believe in its content,” Archbishop Chaput told CNA.  He described it as a “straightforward” statement defending the sanctity of life, religious liberty and the definition of marriage as a union of husband...

" . . . Today the bigots we face are different. Caesar wears a different suit. He has great media handlers. He bullies religion while he claims to respect it. He talks piously about the law and equality and tolerance and fairness. But he still confuses himself with God -- and he still violates the rights of Catholic believers and institutions by intruding himself where he has no right to be. "It‟s one of the great ironies of the moment that tiny Belmont Abbey would have the courage to challenge Caesar over its right to be faithfully Catholic in its...

ROME, October 8, 2009 – "I will always forcefully defend the right of the bishops to criticize me," Barack Obama pledged just before his meeting with Benedict XVI last July 10. Indeed. About 80 of the Catholic bishops of the United States are in open disagreement with him on crucial questions, in primis the defense of life. Among these is Cardinal Francis George, president of the bishops' conference and archbishop of Chicago, Obama's city. And there's also the bishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, 65, member of a Native American tribe and a Capuchin Franciscan. Last year, he published...

I may have lost my mind, but I emailed the following to Archbishop Chaput in response to his August 12 column on health care reform: Subject: Advocating for Caesar to render a welfare state unto us To: shepherd@archden.org Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 10:58 AM Archbishop Chaput, I just finished reading your recent Archbishop's Column in the Denver Catholic Register. I'm very concerned when a so called conservative American Catholic bishop is advocating for the welfare state: "This is why the Church always seeks to work cooperatively with people of other faiths and no faith to secure the basic elements...

The Vatican has asked Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and four other prelates to investigate institutions of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose deceased founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had been accused of sexual improprieties. Chaput is to investigate Legionaries centers in the U.S. and Canada, two of the 22 countries where the order has been active since it was established in 1941. Archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette DeMelo said she could not speculate why Chaput was selected for this "significant responsibility." Although a few of the order's priests are in Colorado, she said, the state is not a...

Tuesday July 14, 2009 Modern Media Needs Thoughtful Discernment Says Archbishop Chaput By Patrick B. CraineCOLORADO SPRINGS, July 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput spoke to a meeting of Catholic business executives last Wednesday on the discernment of media in the Catholic life.  The meeting was held by The Legatus Group, an international organization for Catholic business executives founded by Tom Monaghan in 1987. (Read the full text of the speech here)"America's news media have enormous opinion-shaping power," he told attendees. "Therefore it's vital for Catholics to understand how the media work, and especially how they work...

Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput New York City, N.Y., May 7, 2009 / 07:30 pm (CNA).- Upon receiving a medal from a group dedicated to religious freedom, Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said that God the Creator is the foundation to beliefs about the sanctity and “infinite value” of human life. He also warned that American religious liberty will be lost if it is not defended and if an increasing disdain for faith and religious believers is underestimated. The archbishop delivered his remarks on Thursday in New York City after being awarded the Becket Fund’s Canterbury Medal, which is...

Archbishop Charles Chaput New York City, N.Y., May 6, 2009 / 07:30 pm (CNA).- Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput exhorted Catholics to follow the example of St. Paul by understanding their own times and being “possessed by the God of Truth.” Stressing the need to recognize the impact mass media has on thought and action, he warned that Catholics are losing the habits on which they have traditionally relied because of “vanity and compromise.” The archbishop delivered his remarks to the American Bible Society in New York City on Wednesday. The Archbishop of Denver is in town to...

Wednesday April 29, 2009 Archbishop Chaput Criticizes "Creative Reasoning" Behind ND Defense of Obama Invitation: 53 Opposing Bishops By Kathleen GilbertDENVER, Colorado, April 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has weighed in on the controversy at Notre Dame, criticizing the school's defense of its decision to honor President Obama and praising former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon's refusal to accept the Laetare Medal at the same ceremony.53 bishops and over 340,000 Catholics have protested against Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to give the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on...

From Senator Chris Romer: I understand there are passionate arguments for and against this bill but I think the article below by the Archbishop of Denver highlights a key point: this is about the future of children who are here through no fault of their own. Its important that we remember this human element and the 400 kids estimated to be annually effected by SB09-170. Allowing them reasonable access to higher education makes sense for these students and for Colorado. Tuition Equity: A Just Means To Help Build Colorado’s Future by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput Immigration is one of those...

The Pew forum has finally got the Q and A session between Archbishop Chaput and the press. See The Political Obligations of Catholics: A Conversation With the Most Rev. Charles Chaput, Archbishop of DenverI have my doubts that reporters will realize their mistakes we can hope. The q and a session is far reaching and well worth reading. I am going to take a few posts and examines just part of it.First it is clear that Sally Quinn of the Washington Post still does not get it or in fact gets it and just will be her same ole self....

Catholic ‘complacency’ shares blame for country’s failures, Archbishop Chaput says St. Paul / Archbishop Chaput Detroit, Mich., Mar 21, 2009 / 12:32 pm (CNA).- Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput delivered a speech on Saturday reflecting on the significance of the November 2008 election. Warning that media “narratives” should not obscure truth, he blamed the indifference and complacency of many U.S. Catholics for the country’s failures on abortion, poverty and immigration issues.He also advised Catholics to “master the language of popular culture” and to refuse to be afraid, saying “fear is the disease of our age.”The archbishop’s comments were delivered...

Archbishop Charles Chaput Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2009 / 07:29 pm (CNA).- Unless the media improves its basic understanding of Catholic beliefs and practices, it risks marginalizing the Church and replacing its voice in society with politics, a set of beliefs “with the same vestments, but less conscience,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told a gathering of prominent journalists on Tuesday at the Pew Forum. Though the Archbishop of Denver had been invited to Washington, D.C. to address the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life about the political obligations of Catholics, he began his remarks with a discussion of media coverage of the...

Serve your country best by serving God first, Archbishop Chaput tells USAF cadets Air Force Academy Chapel/ Archbishop Charles Chaput Colorado Springs, Colo., Mar 10, 2009 / 10:11 pm (CNA).- Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput addressed Catholic cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Monday, telling them the military profession is “honorable” and urging them to become virtuous leaders who serve their country best by serving God first.The archbishop discussed war, the nature of obedience, and the need to recognize that people matter more than things.Referring to Homer, W.B. Yeats and Robert E. Lee’s comments...

Archbishop of Denver warns that Conn. bill threatens Catholics everywhere Archbishop Charles Chaput Denver, Colo., Mar 9, 2009 / 05:53 pm (CNA).- Although the legislation in question was introduced in Connecticut, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has issued a statement on a bill that would effectively sever the relationship between a bishop and his pastors and parishes. Archbishop Chaput says in his statement, "What Happens in Connecticut Matters Here," that the bill is "bad public policy in every sense."The Senate Bill 1098 was introduced last Thursday by the chairs of the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature: Senator Andrew...

"President Obama is a man of intelligence and some remarkable gifts. He has a great ability to inspire, as we saw from his very popular visit to Canada just this past week. But whatever his strengths, there’s no way to reinvent his record on abortion and related issues with rosy marketing about unity, hope and change. Of course, that can change. Some things really do change when a person reaches the White House. Power ennobles some men. It diminishes others. Bad policy ideas can be improved. Good policy ideas can find a way to flourish. But as Catholics, we at...